- The improvement is motivated by the Life branch, which grew by 21.39%, although the Non-Life branch also increased by 7.5%
- The overall solvency ratio of the sector stood at 2.39 times the SCR, in accordance with the new Solvency II regulations.
The volume of premiums earned in the insurance sector experienced a growth of 13.75% at the end of last year, up to 57,073 million euros, as can be seen from the 2016 Insurance and Pension Report that was published today on its website the General Directorate of Insurance and Pension Plans.
This improvement in the business has been motivated by the Life branch, which has experienced a growth of 21.39%, although the Non-Life branch has also registered a good performance, with an increase of 7.45%. This significant growth means that, for the first time in recent years, the percentage of premiums over national GDP grows, reaching 5.83%.
The activity of the insurance sector during 2016 has been marked by the entry into force of Solvency II. The changes in the solvency measure are reflected in the report: solvency margin data up to 2015 and data on the solvency capital requirement for 2016 are offered. On the other hand, the coverage status of technical provisions disappears.
Despite the entry into force of this new, more demanding regulation, the overall solvency ratio of the sector stood at 2.39 times the SCR, with an excess of 139% and an upward trend in the 2016 quarterly results.
The technical-financial result improves compared to the previous year for both Life insurance (7.9% vs. 7.0% in 2015) and Non-Life (10.6% vs. 9.6% in 2015). ), in both cases motivated by the improvement in the technical results of the insurance business, and with worsening in financial results due to the lower profitability of its investment portfolio due to the environment of low interest rates. In this context, the entities are strengthening the technical result and managing to offset the lower financial results.
In relation to investments, public fixed income continues to be the category of assets with the greatest weight in the total (53.04%) and private fixed income stabilizes its participation in the total (21.72%) after the reduction of its weight of recent years.
The assets managed in pension plans and funds were 106,466 million euros in 2016, which represents an increase of 2.37% compared to the previous year. This growth in managed equity contrasts with the decreasing trend in the number of participant accounts (decrease of 0.44%), which started in 2011. In turn, the equity in group insurance stood at 26,585 million euros; in PPAs, 12,293 million euros; in Corporate Social Security Plans, 317 million euros; and in dependency insurance, 18 million euros. In total, 145,679 million euros, representing almost 8% of the financial savings of Spanish families.
